john bollwitt blog

Photo credit: retrocactus on Flickr

You know, when the Canucks missed the playoffs after this season, I thought my world of being involved and/or following hockey would slow down. I thought that we would all be saying our farewell to Trevor Linden, find out who wins the cup, get some new draft picks, make some off season trades, and then get ready for the preseason with that yearly glimmer of hope.

Wow. What a bomb shell.

Actually, I take that back. I kept asking friends, co-workers, and Crazy Canuckers as to what they thought about Dave Nonis[wiki] and his job being in jeopardy as GM of the Vancouver Canucks. Something inside of me just felt uneasy about his role for a better part of the season, more so at the tail end.

My feeling about it all is that he was a good general manager of the organization. After that, you can’t say much more. Sure, there was the blockbuster trade for Roberto Luongo, but that isn’t a ton more to speak of after that. Willie Mitchell, yeah. After that, it’s been a lot of pickups and trades that were not the strongest or memorable. They were just… good or okay.

There’s not a lot to say about his activity in the last few years as being great or prolific, but he wasn’t half bad either.

Nonis had the passion and desire to be good at the job he held. There is no doubt about that. What works against him is what didn’t happen. An incredible goalie with a strong defense in front of him didn’t produce the goals, points, and playoff birth that could have kept his job.

However, this wasn’t my decision to make, nor can I say that I’m 100% in agreement. The only reason I say that I can’t be surprised is the fact that we have new ownership of this team, and this team is a business. The Aquilini’s are a business minded group of people. They are also lifelong fans. Nonis had those things working against his job, no matter how much the team he is in charge of spends on the disabled list or doesn’t produce on the ice.

Darren Barefoot mentioned to me on Twitter how Nonis should have been able to finish the last year on his contract, and I agree with that. The year after the lockout saw a lot of shuffling around the league, and we were a team built for a different game than what came about that season. The next season saw something different for this city: a real goalie. This year was a nightmare of injuries.

With his contract in mind, I think Nonis had a plan. One more year left, he can’t finish that vision that he had, and we’ll never know if that script would have played out for the better.

They say that a true test of a general manager is proven in five years. The contract gave him four, but he only got three. When I do those calculations in my head, combined with all the ups and downs of the days of Nonis, the one thing I keep coming back to is concern as a fan. Concern that we now have owners of this team who can prove themselves that much better in half the time than one man did in three. If they can do that, then I’ll be really impressed.

Zanstorm has a really great post that made me think a little bit more about my point, and I think it still stands. His break down of what Nonis did during his tenure in Vancouver is a tad mediocre in the proof, so like I said. He did… okay.

The NHL All-Star game[wiki] was this past Sunday. In case you failed to notice, you probably are not alone. Personally, I liked the festivities, no matter how confusing or dribbling you think it might have been. Even though the Eastern Conference won with just twenty seconds left in the game at a score of 8-7, the action went all the way to the end, not to mention that hat trick that Rick Nash pulled off.

While I’m at it, I love the players being wired during the game. It wasn’t just periodically hearing what the guys were saying on the ice during stoppage of play. They were talking to the players, mainly the goalies, during game play. I found that fascinating, no matter how trivial it might have been. Maybe it’s the Boston rubbing off on me from Rebecca, but I like Tim Thomas a little bit, more so when he did that break dance spin move during the Superskills Competition the night before.

And Chris Pronger falling on his face? Priceless.

I’ve been hearing from a variety of people that all of this stuff is pointless, and the All-Star game should go away. There isn’t a point, it’s boring, or something along the lines that no one cares. Honestly, I like the whole idea of the games biggest names getting together on the ice for a good game of stick and puck once a year.

The other morning, I had the idea about what the All-Star game should be, and that’s a return to its original roots. Thanks to the CBC’s People’s History of Hockey, I recalled how the first all-star games were actually charity benefits, not massive marketing stunts at all.

The first All-Star game in ice hockey predates the NHL. It was played on January 2, 1908 before 3,500 fans at the Montreal Arena between the Montreal Wanderers and a team of All-Stars players from the teams the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. It was held in memory of Montreal Wanderers player Hod Stuart, who had drowned three months after the Wanderers won the Stanley Cup in 1907. The proceeds of that game (over $2,000) went to Stuart’s family. [wikipedia]

And actually, the game that I heard about in that TV documentary is something that might be all too needed in today’s NHL with the amount of nasty hits resulting in some stiff punishments.

On December 12, 1933, a tragedy occurred as Toronto’s King Clancy tripped Boston’s Eddie Shore, and, in retaliation to being tripped, Shore hit Ace Bailey from behind flipping him over backwards. Bailey hit his head so hard on the ice that a priest in attendance gave him last rites. Bailey lived, but his playing career was over. Shore was suspended for 16 games of a 48 game season for the hit. As a benefit for Bailey and his family, the first ever National Hockey League All-Star Game was held on 14 February 1934.

The game was held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, during which Bailey’s #6 uniform was retired by the Leafs. It was the first number to be retired in the NHL. The game saw the Leafs battle against an All-Star team made of players from the other seven teams, which the Leafs won 7-3. One of the more memorable moments before the game was when Bailey presented Shore with his All-Star jersey, showing to the public that Bailey had clearly forgiven him for his actions. Bailey also presented a trophy to NHL President Frank Calder before a game in the hope that the trophy would go to the winner of an annual All-Star Game for the benefit of injured players. [wikipedia]

It’s a long shot, but why not push this concept back into the league and focus more on charities for the All-Star game? The current mindset is to promote the league and spread the game into markets that need to have its popularity, or lack thereof, boosted. There are underlying charities, but they are not at the forefront of the event. Right now, the only, real benefit of the NHL All-Star game is the NHL.

Take the game back to where it began. Make it a charity driven event. Feed the hungry, give money to help fight disease, clothe the hungry, help rebuild towns from disaster, etc. Say what you will about NHL commissioners or owners, but the heart that can come from helping more than just the NHL will help promote the game better than any self-promoting TV broadcast.

One topic that comes up between a lot of NHL fans is the schedule.

For the most part, it currently sucks. It’s nice to have a lot of battles going on between the divisional teams, but the fact that the current setup only allows games between certain teams once every three years, it can be annoying.

For instance, Sidney Crosby[wiki], the league’s number one guy, has been in the league for nearly three years now, and he finally made it all the way out to Vancouver for his first game ever just a week ago. It was hugely anticipated and lived up to the hype, but it took a long time before we got the chance to face the Penguins, a team that is chalk full of some amazing talent.

As fans, that’s tough, and it goes beyond Crosby. There are others that we want to see on a regular basis, and that’s going to change. It might not be the best setup, but it will be good to know that at least once a season, we’ll see every team in the league.

The NHL board of governors meeting Thursday didn’t go that far, but did decide to change the schedule so teams will play each other at least once next year.

A concession the players will welcome, for sure. New faces, new uniforms and, more importantly for fans, new battles to wage. [...]

Colorado’s Andrew Brunette, who’s played in Minnesota and Atlanta, is tired of seeing Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson - even if he’s a buddy from their Wild days.

“I’m really against eight games with teams in your division. And fans want to see players on the other side of the league every year, in their building. Not every two or three years, that’s just not right. It would be more travel for us, but that’s OK with me.” [edmonton journal]

So this is a great step in a better direction, but nothing is completely perfect yet. There are some teams that will only be played once, so it will place certain match ups in one team’s rink, then the following year will place the same teams in the other team’s arena. Not the most perfect setup that fans would like to see, but it’s better than waiting three years to see said team again.

One thing that desperately needs examination is the structure of the schedule. The Canucks have had a very strange go so far, especially at the beginning of the season where there were nearly a week between games, and that happened about twice. Now there are numerous, back to back nights on the road where the team is in one city and in another for the next night. On top of that, there are weeks with four games in seven nights. Or it’s eleven games in fifteen nights. Either way, that’s a lot of travel, bouncing around time zones in some situations.

What happens when that occurs? Playing that often on the road wears a player down, and the team is suffering from it. The flu is making its way around, and it goes beyond just players. Recycled air on the charter flights spread the illness, and I’ve heard from friends that people working at the games inside GM Place have been getting sick as well. True that it is flu season, but I find the coincidence fairly interesting.

To go even further, players want the schedule to change just a little bit more.

Paul Kelly, the new executive director of the NHL Players Association, also addressed the league’s owners during a late-afternoon session to open the board’s two-day meeting at an elite resort on the Northern California coast. [...]

Kelly even said the players would entertain the notion of an 84-game season — allowing every team to play a home-and-home series against one division in the other conference each year — if owners agreed to reduce the number of preseason games. Bettman said the owners could be open to the notion, but it hasn’t been formally proposed yet. [si]

I’m down for that. The idea calls for shaving off some pre-season games, and that wouldn’t be horrible either. As long as the players are up for it, I think it’s a good idea. Just don’t extend the season any further into the spring than it already has. As a fan, I’m always up for more hockey.

Continuing in the series of stupid things that NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman[wiki] is doing to grow the sport of hockey, the plan is keep players from participating in the 2014 Winter Olympics[wiki] in Russia.

The 2010 Vancouver Games could be the end of the NHL’s brief participation in Olympic hockey.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told Reuters on Tuesday that, following Vancouver, his league may rethink its policy of suspending play in mid-season so players can compete in the Olympics.

That means the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, could be the first since the 1994 edition in Lillehammer to not feature hockey’s best men’s players.

“It is a strain. It is a strain on the players, on the schedule and on our fans here,” Bettman said at the Reuters media summit in New York.

“It has an impact on the momentum of the season and the benefits we get tend to be greater when the Olympics are in North America than when they’re in distant time zones.” [cbc]

I’m calling shenanigans on this one. Sure, the drastic difference in time zones is one thing, but the fact that the Russian Super Leagues[wiki] is consistently drawing players away from the NHL is the other half of the story.

Let’s be clear. The NHL has a salary cap, and the leagues in Russia don’t. Players can leave the NHL for more money to play in leagues that don’t have the posh superstructure that the NHL exists in, but the dollar amounts somewhat make up for it. The competition might just be as high, and the pay more than makes up for the fact that you’re not playing in the same league that Wayne Gretzky[wiki] became a legend in.

I talked about this in the latest episode of The Crazy Canucks, and we all agreed that this is nothing more than saber rattling being done by Bettman. It’s obvious that since the 2010 games are in Vancouver, there would be a huge support for having NHL players in the games when they come to the country where the sport was born. However, when the games go to the land that is stealing the league’s players away for more money, Bettman is sticking his nose up in the air.

Everything that Bettman has done with the league to this point has been, in his mind and/or words, done with the NHL’s best interest in mind. The ultimate goal is to grow the sport across the U.S. because any respectable hockey fan can tell you that a majority of profit for the league comes from Canada. The fans here love their hockey, and I live in a city that is proof to the fact.

When I think about this move, I go back to when the 1994 FIFA World Cup[wiki] came to the U.S. and how much that sparked my interest into the sport of soccer. Prior to that, my only real exposure to it was when I would go to Kansas City to visit my grandparents and see various games on Univision with the insanely entertaining announcers that spoke spanish way too fast for my comprehension.

The point is, I started liking the sport after 1994, and I still remember watching Alexi Lalas[wiki] and Cobi Jones[wiki] in that tournament. Today, when there is a game on the tube, I’ll stop and watch for a while. I’ll even download a game through bittorrent once and a while when it pops up in the various feeds I watch. There is only so much I can do when I watch a game between Manchester United and Everton to really understand the history, crowd chants, and rivalry, but I know good action when I see it, all thanks to the World Cup sparking my interest.

To me, that’s what having the best of the best from the NHL representing their country can do to grow the sport. There have been so many times in which I have heard Gary Bettman say something to the effect that something was done to help the NHL grow in terms of exposure for the sake of getting more fans, such as the choice of Versus being the TV network of choice in the U.S. How does taking players from the NHL out of the Winter Olympics make that work?

I get that there is chance of losing players to injury in the games, not forgetting that this is nearly 3/4 of the way into the season when the playoff race is close to the horizon. However, what’s the chance that you can help ride that momentum from the Olympics into the Stanley Cup Finals? For some, that might seem like a stretch, but think about that next Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby who catches the games and decides to get a pair of skates the next day.

Not being in the Olympics would be a mistake, if not a missed opportunity, Mr. Bettman. It’s sad to know that a man like you can control the livelihood of a country, or even countries, just because you’re fed up with the way that another league, in another country, operates.

Take one hockey skate and stick a battery in it to heat the blade, and this is what you get.

A Canadian-made heated skate blade touted as a means of boosting velocity was approved Tuesday for testing in the National Hockey League.

The Therma Blade will be used by as many as 10 NHL players in games and practices, said the blade’s inventor, Tory Weber of Calgary. The NHL will use this testing phase to examine possible safety issues and the blades’ effect on the ice to determine whether they should be used more widely within the league.

A battery in the back of the skate blade heats up to 5C, helping to reduce friction and push the wearer forward with less work, Weber said.

“It’s very simple technology. A warm blade basically creates a thin film of water and melts the ice,” Weber said. Skaters that use the heated blades, which will retail for about $399, find it’s much like skating on ice that has been freshly groomed by a Zamboni, he added. [cbc]

I have two reactions to this. One is that this is an incredibly neat way of using technology in such a simple way. It makes sense, and the science of it ridiculously smart. My other reaction is one of simply asking, buh?

You can call it complaining and sounding like an old timer, but we’ve come a long way since wooden sticks, skates, and sweaters. Composite sticks, synthetic jerseys, tougher padding made with less material, etc., but this kinda blows my mind.

Not only will you have to suit up, strap on your pads, tape up your shins, and lace everything up, but now you’ll have to make sure you check your batteries. Granted that it’s the equipment manager’s job to make sure that you stuff gets taken care of, but what happens if you start having a bad night on the ice because there is no juice left in your skates?

Imagine the post-game interview in the locker room and the player saying, “I was giving it my all, 110%, but apparently my skates were only at 30% charge capacity. They must have died half way through the third period. Everyone was really giving it their all, but… I’ll just have to get the circuitry in my skates checked out before the next game.”

That being said, I like the concept and am curious to see how it all plays out. Gretzky has given his seal of approval, but I’d really like to hear if this makes that much of a difference. On top of that, does making the blade even hotter allow for better performance? If that were the case and it became an unfair advantage, then that might mean league rules and temperature tests before every game, would it not?

With the new RBK jerseys being launched all around the NHL for this coming season, there is a lot stirring in terms of discussions about team logos. Enter the NHL Tournament of Logos.

I’ve been pretty fascinated with the material they have been covering about the entire league, and the tournament over who has the best logo in the league is entertaining. I love how the site has been as nearly mesmerized over the coming Canucks new jersey and/or logo, whatever the hell it’s going to be, as the rest of us fans have become. It’s also opened my eyes to what the rest of the league has been toying with, not to mention fan concepts.

Watch for more teams to unveil their new looks over the coming month, and this site will help you keep tabs on it..

Tossing even more fuel towards the flames, I thought I would chime in with the always interesting discussion about the new Canucks logo and jerseys that are going to be announced in the coming weeks. This I know based on what VP Chris Zimmerman said at the state of the franchise I attended with J.J.

Speaking of, J.J. posted the other day with the scoop, and Alanah chimed in with some thoughts about it today. Being that I get a lot of Google searches on this topic, Canucks fans will be interested to see and hear this one.

It was a reader who emailed this into J.J., so no one can be sure on its authenticity. However, as mentioned in his post, these colors within the logo match the current color scheme on Canucks.com. Does that mean anything? No one really knows.

My opinion, it’s not too horrible, but I’d still prefer the stick-in-rink. Otherwise, this isn’t too bad, especially if you consider what Buffalo changed to last season. At least this looks a little more menacing compare to that slug.

Going back to my post about attending the state of the Canucks franchise with J.J., I thought I would hit a few points that stuck out to me. More so, it’s something that a lot of hockey minded folks, from broadcasters to fans, have been talking about. It was the opening panel that inspires me to mention a few of the following topics.

I can’t remember who said it, but the basic jest was that we, the fans, need to speak up about what we want from the things we enjoy and love. Truly, that can go for anything you follow, sports related or not, and the truth is that fans make things like the NHL exist.

Speaking of a lack of fans making things not exist, look at the Nashville Predators. Great team, horrible fan base, and a relocation of the franchise is constant soap opera. There are about four locations being tossed around: Las Vegas, NV, Kansas City, MO, Hamilton, ON, and Winnipeg, MB. Basically, the southwest desert, midwest U.S., hockey saturated Ontario, and a return of the NHL to the Canadian prairie.

I’ve stated my feelings about KC before, even though that was about the Penguins who are staying in Pittsburgh, and I still stand by what I said. However, I will add that if the Predators are going to relocate within the U.S., then it should be to KC, not Las Vegas. Another Canadian team is something I am all in support of, but not in Ontario. Return it to Winnipeg where people are hockey lovers, and it’s a well known fact that all the Canadian teams in the NHL are making a large bulk of profits for the entire league. It just makes better business sense to move the team where hockey is loved and will make a hell of a lot more money than the desert.

If you move a team to Las Vegas, you’ll have to spend a lot of marketing dollars on teaching fans that the team exists on top of teaching the game. At least if you move the team to Kansas City, the team will be closer to the 49th parallel where hockey is more prevalent. Another team in the desert, where there is never enough ice to even skate on, is a ridiculous move.

Speaking of ridiculous, kill the television contract with Versus. Nuke it. Rip it up. There are way too many people who have a hard enough time getting NHL coverage in the U.S. with the way it stands, so something needs to change. There are those who can’t even get the network, so why would you invest in something that has lackluster exposure?

A little side note, but an interesting one, the annual Iowa vs. Iowa State football game will be on Versus this year, opposed to one of the major broadcast networks or ESPN. That even has a few people asking questions about what a Versus actually is. Being the good Hawkeye fan that I am, that article made me laugh as well as sad.

Anyway, I have liked the NBC deal thus far, and it’s even better with Brett Hull leaving to take a job with the Dallas Stars. I don’t like them leaving a game early because a game runs long, especially for a horse race that has one hour pre-show for a two minute event. I can’t think of a better way to turn off a new fan who discovers hockey in the midst of the Stanley Cup playoffs, much like I did in my early teens.

Lastly (because I know you’re listening, NHL), take a long, hard look at what the New York Islanders are doing with allowing bloggers access to their franchise. Not only am I a huge fan of this, but this is a remarkable step in allowing those who love their team to report on their team. It’s true that this has its good and bad qualities to it, but there is a lot of difference between sports reporting (i.e. radio or newspaper) and sports blogging.

Recording a podcast episode of The Crazy Canucks from the press box in GM Place.
(Photo credit: Miss604 on Flickr)

In blogging, and podcasting for that matter, we brew a community. We have comments, interaction, and other people blog what someone else blogs about. It’s a world wide conversation, and we’re talking hockey on a scale that is much different than what sports reporters do in press or behind the desk or mic. We’re not bound by deadlines or schedules, but there is precedence on being honest about what you love, which is your hockey team. True that this can be biased, but people write what they are passionate about. That’s blogging, and they post views about the team they are the fans of, expanding and strengthening the team and league around the world.

The NHL should make more of an effort to expand this concept throughout the league. Want examples of how much blogging benefits a team like the Canucks? Check out J.J., Alanah, or Zanstorm. They are fans, but they offer news, viewpoints, and a unique voice that speak to people more than a sports reporter might. At least I know that I can count on all of those folks to translate league news into something I can readily understand.

Those are the big issues for me right now, and I know that there are more that will creep up later. I’ll try to post about them when I think of them. If you have something to say, then post it in the comments. Better yet, get your voice out there, too. Who knows if we can change anything in the end, but speaking up is a start.

I’ve seen this on numerous news sites, not to mention the various hockey blogs that I follow. There is just no way that I can pass this one up. And mind you, this did not happen in Canada.

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — It’s not drunken driving in New Jersey if it involves a Zamboni.

A judge ruled the four-ton ice rink-grooming machines aren’t motor vehicles because they aren’t useable on highways and can’t carry passengers.

Zamboni operator John Peragallo had been charged with drunken driving in 2005 after a fellow employee at the Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, New Jersey, told police the machine was speeding and nearly crashed into the boards.

Police said Peragallo’s blood alcohol level was 0.12 percent. A level of 0.08 is considered legally drunk in New Jersey. [cnn]

Fortunately, no mascots were hurt in this incident. I have to add that the blame mostly resides on the “Sambuca with his breakfast coffee and two Valium-pills before work”, thanks to Bradley for picking that one out. But seriously, need I say more?

Totally stealing this one from J.J.

I am convinced that the only way that hockey is to grow in the U.S. is by instilling a love for the game with the younger crowd. In fact, let me translate this video clip for said folks who live in this said country. She is taking a cue for her, I assume, father that when he says the first name of the player on the Canucks, the little girl responds with the last name of the player. And she’s probably two or three?

Changing rules or scheming marketing plans don’t lure long term fans to a sport, or anything for that matter. Most Canadian fans will tell you that hockey is something they grew up with, and that’s why they are so passionate about it. And even if they’re not living and breathing it, they might still have a fondness for it. And if you think that’s stupid, then ask someone from Mexico as to why anyone would find futbol, aka soccer, interesting.

This could be completely false information, but it’s worth passing on for the sake of finding out if it is or not. An email came in to The Crazy Canucks about what showed up into this guy’s email. Based on this post by J.J. earlier today, I can’t say that I’m too surprised, and it fits with what I said about the new NHL uniforms coming about next season[post]. Still, are Canucks fans ready for the return of the stink-in-rink and Johnny Canuck?

Rebecca has a take on it, but we’ve been talking it over without really any conclusion of what we feel about it. Alanah put something on Kukla’s as well, so let the jury call the verdict. Is Buzz a victim or bringer of truth? You decide.

Update: Check out the comments in Alanah’s post. It appears that these are some mock ups created by a Canucks fan. Can’t say I blame them, but I figured I’d pass on the rumor for the sake of finding out for sure. Internets, you did your job.

Update - June 4, 2007: The jerseys are going to change.

Update - August 21, 2007: The jerseys are here on August 29, 2007

Update - August 29, 2007: The new jerseys are here!

This is incredibly depressing. I never thought I would find myself to be the type of hockey fan that becomes interested in the realm of the business behind the NHL, but it’s tough to stay outside of something you enjoy so much. The fact that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman[wiki] is having his contract extended is like nails on a chalkboard.

There is nothing that the guy says that makes you feel safe about the future of the league. He could call me up to say that I have season tickets to all NHL games for life, and I’d still be honked off. Maybe it’s that he’s annoying, but I tend to think it’s some bad business on his end.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Gary Bettman says he isn’t leaving his job as NHL commissioner anytime soon.

“I’ve watched with fascination some of the newspaper reports having me going on sabbatical shortly,” Bettman said Wednesday night. “That isn’t the case, wasn’t the case.

“I think people were somehow under the impression my contract had a year to run and got fixated on that. Those stories were, to say the least, inaccurate.”

Bettman’s contract runs through the 2010-11 season. It runs parallel with the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and its players union that resolved the labor fight that cost the NHL its 2004-05 season.

There have been reports some owners are losing patience with Bettman. Some others are frustrated with the current U.S. broadcast contract with Versus, a cable network formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network, that is unknown to many people. Others are upset with the current unbalanced NHL schedule, which means some superstars don’t play in certain markets for three years.

In a meeting with reporters, Bettman defended the NHL’s contract with Versus and said the NHL will change when owners can agree on a solution that “makes sense to everybody,” The Canadian Press reported.

The CP reported Bettman said he is confident that Versus can grow hockey in the U.S. over the long haul, noting that the network is now seen in 72 million households, up from 64 million. [espn]

How can you build hockey in the states when you push the games on a network that not very many people have and is new to a lot of people’s vocabulary? How much more on the back burner can you get? Just because the network can be seen, that doesn’t mean people are going to watch.

I had some hopes that the Bettman era was coming to a close. He isn’t the only guy pulling the strings here, but nothing completely changes unless he wants it to. The schedule, rules, and TV coverage. I’m not a genius when it comes to the world of sports business, but it’s not too much of a stretch to say that things have been for the better, especially for hockey in the U.S.